Antigone Themes

At a Glance

The choices of the characters lead to clear consequences: Antigone seals her fate by burying Polynices, Ismene’s refusal to help Antigone shatters their relationship, and Creon’s choice to ignore Haemon and Teiresias leads to the suicide of his son and wife.

Tradition compels Antigone to fulfill her duty to bury her brother. Creon disobeys Zeus’ law in preventing Antigone from burying her brother and suffers the consequences of flouting custom.

Creon angers the gods by putting his own laws ahead of their own.

The conflict between family and state is demonstrated by Antigone choosing her loyalty to her brothers above her obedience to Creon and Creon’s prioritization of the needs of the state ahead of those of his family.

Individual vs. State

Antigone can be seen as an allegory for the individual vs. the state.The "state" is systemic power held by an institution. Antigone is representative of the individual heroine, while Creon is representative of institutional power. Their struggle against each other and their ultimate tragic fates show that while the state can crush the individual because of power differentials, the moral order can only be restored by the resistance of individuals within a state.